EDIT MARCH 2013: So ah…2 potty-trained kids later, and I wanted to mention that diaper math is NOT a science. Disposable diapers largely depend on the build and growth rate of your baby. That “4-7 oz/week” I mention later in this post? What a joke. Vivienne grew a full pound in her first week. She was off the charts at 6 months, and in a size 6 diaper because of her chub. It was incredible. She slimmed down to eventually a size 4 when she potty-trained, but still. I had no way of knowing that ahead of time.

Johnny was 6 lbs. 5 oz at birth and way skinnier for awhile. I had no newborn diapers for him, and that was a mistake. I think he needed them for what, 6 weeks? (didn’t need any for Vivie, though).

My advice now is to just not worry about it. Get a jumbo of newborns. A jumbo of 1s, and a jumbo of 2s and a box of 3s if you want. Then wait and see what happens. Your child may blaze through a size almost faster than you can use up your stash. Or you might need to buy more after the baby is born. That is ok! I know it can be stressful to shop with a new baby, but that’s what daddy/grandma/diapers.com/Amazon.com is for. Or, just take a quick trip to the store, either solo or with your baby. It will be ok!

—-

Y’all know how much I really wanted to try using cloth diapers with our baby. After hearing a bunch of nay-sayers tell me I’d be nuts to try it without a washer/dryer in our apartment, and folks telling me I can get disposables for cheap by combining coupons with sales at drugstores, I’ve decided to throw in the towel on the issue.

Yes, cloth diapers are better for the environment, and are better for my baby’s tush. Yes, they can be cheaper than regular-priced diapers.

But for pete’s sake, this is my first baby. We’ll be 400 miles from family, and while I’m sure the grandparents will visit–it’s going to be me and Shane doing most of the diaper duty.

I guess the most reasonable thing for me to do is to find great deals on disposables and stock up when I can, and try cloth when we move to a new place (whenever that might be).

I’m keeping track of my inventory by using a spreadsheet, which you can view here. So far, I have 439 diapers and paid $25.83 out of pocket for them. That averages out to about $0.058 cents per diaper! I don’t know if I can keep going at that pace, but I’m certainly going to try.

Drawbacks of having a huge stash of diapers before the baby is born:

– Not all brands work on all babies. Some might be more prone to leaks. Some might not fit securely around Baby’s legs or waist.

– Some diapers might irritate Baby’s skin more than others.

– Baby might outgrow a size much faster than anticipated. Might have diapers go unused (though if this happens, I’ll try to exchange unopened packs for the correct size. Or, I’ll take opened packs to the church nursery for another baby to use).

– We might not have enough of a particular size and still need to brave the frozen tundra to get diapers.

Perks of having a huge stash of diapers before the baby is born:

– I can shop at a more leisurely pace, buying diapers at incredible prices, thus saving me a ton of money.

– If a store is out of one particular size but I still need diapers in another size, I can get it without bothering to ask for a raincheck.

– We won’t have to go diaper shopping in the winter. No dealing with icy roads or a fussy baby in public if we don’t want to.

– We won’t have to bargain hunt when we’d rather spend our “free” time sleeping.

What size to get? And how many?

I’ve scoured the internet looking for blog posts and message board forums on how many diapers a baby uses, and how long they’re in a particular size.

I’ve had a hard time coming up with numbers because each baby is born at a different size, grows at a different pace, and is shaped differently. Some 9-lb. babies have chunky legs; others might be skinny. It makes sense that the specific type of diapers and those sizes will vary for each baby.

Still, I feel like there has to be at least a vague guideline of how long babies are in particular sizes.

The best info I’ve been able to find so far suggests that you need to buy “a few” packs of newborn size (some babies skip this size entirely), “a few” packs of size 1s and size 2s, and “a lot” of size 3s.

Um, can ya be more specific? How many is “a few?” Is that two packs or ten? Again, it will vary.

I consulted an infant growth chart to look at averages of how many pounds a baby might gain in a given period.

“Infants generally gain 4 to 7 ounces a week during the first month. After the first month, they gain an average of 1 to 2 pounds a month for the first six months. From six months to 1 year, they gain about 1 pound a month,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

If that data holds true, if my baby is about seven pounds at birth, then I might expect:

by the end of 1 month: 8-9 lbs.
by the end of 2 months: 9-11 lbs.
by the end of 3 months 10-13 lbs.
by the end of 4 months 11-15 lbs.
by the end of 5 months 12-17 lbs.
by the end of 6 months 13-19 lbs.

by the end of 7 months: 14-20 lb.s
by the end of 8 months: 15-21 lbs.
by the end of 9 months: 16-22 lbs.
by the end of 10 months: 17-23 lbs.
by the end of 11 months: 18-24 lbs.
by the end of 12 months: 19-25 lbs.

Of course, these are only estimates, since each baby grows differently. I get that, I promise. But now that I have a general guideline, I can surmise that Baby will probably wear sizes N-3 for the first year, maybe reaching size 4 during the last month or two before its first birthday.

That means that Baby might be in size 1s for the first two to three months of life. At 10-12 diaper changes per day, that’s 602 to 1,083 diapers. Sheesh that’s a lot! Sounds more than “a few” to me.

Baby might be in size 2s from the third month through the end of the fifth month or longer if I have a small, slow-growing baby. Keeping with that 10-12 diaper changes/day guideline, I might expect to go through 602 to 722 diapers or more in that size.

Baby might be in size 3s from five months through one year. At 10 diaper changes per day, that’s 2,107 diapers.

I’m going to buy…

I’m probably going to try to have a few hundred diapers each in size 1 and 2, and then more in size 3. This will depend on the deals I’m able to find and the bargain-hunting I can do between now and December.

If I can get a great deal on Pampers or Huggies, I’ll get them. I’ll probably stick to store brands for larger-sized diapers, and use premium brand diapers for newborn-size 1 in general. And, if store brand diapers prove to be a problem during the night, well then we’ll just use those during the day, and premiums at night.

Yes, is a lot more about diaper fit that weight of the baby and not all babies grow at the same pace. My oldest grew to 11 lbs in one month. My second grew at a slower rate at the beginning but now is bigger than my oldest at the same age. This is why it’s hard to determine how many bags to have from each size. I would say have some bags of each and if you need to supplement make sure you have enough ecbs and coupons to buy some last minute diapers.
I also agree with you that as baby gets older store brands may do the job. However for the first two months I highly recommend Pampers Swaddlers. Tere is just nothing like them. You will pobably get two packs at the hospital (it seems most hospitals use this on their newborn) and you will understand why I highly recommend it. Just work as many moneymaking deals that you can at CVS and spend the money you made on diapers. That’s how I have been doing.

I am feeling a little validated by your post btw. For a while there I thought you were above stockpiling diapers.

Having two in diapers, I can be honest and tell you it is hard to judge how much of each size you truly will need. Both of my children weighed the same when they were born (6lbs 12oz). My oldest was 2 weeks late, my youngest was 3 weeks early. And they both grew into diapers and different times. My oldest is tall and skinny has been since the day she was born and was much slower to move up to the next diaper. My youngest is tall and chunky! She’s in size 3’s now, ready for size 4’s at 6 months.

My honest advice, buy four packs of newborns. You will go through newborn diapers the quickest. Your changing more diapers at that age then you will when their older. Huggies diapers run a little bit bigger than most diapers I have found, so if your baby has moved up to size two in say Pampers, expect to give it a week or two before going to size two in Huggies.

I can’t tell you how many diapers we have bought since having kids. There are days with our oldest (she’s 21 months) where we’ll go through 10 diapers a day and some days only three. As they get older, they learn control, plus we have now started potty training.

When stocking up on diapers it is truly a hit and miss with how many you need. You have to count in sick days (exploding diapers as I call them), etc.

My son is 2 1/2 now but before he was born we stocked up on diapers and formula.
Most came from Ebay and the nice part, when he switched to regular milk or outgrew a diaper size, I was able to resell the leftovers back on ebay.
The trick is to know how much per diaper or ounce you can buy them in-store (store brand and name brand) and then figure your top bid price on per diaper/ounce price including shipping charge. I’d say 90% of the time we ended up paying store brand price (or less) for name brand incl shipping.

We did the same thing for jars of baby food when it came time. Always found a bargain.

I stocked up alot of diapers (3 packs or so of each size) for each of my kids before they were born and I still keep a big stock on hand. So then I never have to run out at the last minute and get stuck paying full price.

But I would be real hesitant to stock up on such a large quantity as you’re trying to do. There’s so many times when I purchased a brand (usually the store brands) and just didn’t like them for one reason or another. And I would never buy them again. And I certainly wouldn’t want to be stuck with a great big amount of them. Some of them just fit really weird, or have dyes that rub off on baby’s skin (Walgreens), or are more irritating, or are harder to put onto a squirmy/fussy baby or there could be a million other reasons that you just don’t like certain diapers. And it’s so hard to go by other people’s reviews of diapers because each diaper brand works differently for each parent and each baby.

I totally understand wanting to be prepared, not wanting to pay alot, and not wanting to drag a newborn out into the winter weather to get diapers. I just wanted to give you one more thing to consider. Perhaps you could start focusing on baby clothes, furniture, gear, toys, feeding & bathing supplies, etc. Or deciding what you want on your baby registry, if you’re doing one of them.

Just remember that diaper deals and coupons will always be around. Good luck with it all! Oh and sorry for rambling on for so long.

I commend you for taking the time, effort and expense to prepare for your diapering needs ahead of time. It makes so much more sense to shop wisely now when you have fewer responsibilites so you can be prepared later on!

It reminds me of the children’s story about the country mouse and the city mouse. Basically the little city mouse did nothing to prepare for future needs and came whining to the one who took the time and effort to prepare ahead of time.

I grew up on a farm and it provided almost all of our food and heat. I used to love to help prepare everything for storage because it meant we would have something to eat and a warm house to live in through the winter.

It is hard to estimate. The “N” diapers will probably only fit for a week or two. “1”s longer, maybe 6 weeks. My son has been in 3’s from 7 months to 14 months, I just moved him to 4’s.

But, I do not change him 10x per day! The older a child gets, the less frequently they will need to be changed, usually. Most older babies settle into a routine – pooping once or twice a day, for example. They usually don’t need to be changed in the middle of the night. My older baby, change in the morning, change after morning nap, change after lunch (eating and sleeping make him “go”.),
change before dinner, change for bed. Maybe 4-5 times throughout the day.

How many diapers a baby uses is entirely individual. My second baby pooped once per week. Yes, really! (And when he went, he WENT!)

My last baby had polyuria (lotsa pee). He would soak through a diaper on the first wet – we changed him probably 12-14 times per day for months.

I would really caution you against too much stockpiling. Some of my babies were actually allergic to Huggies brand. I found I couldn’t stand the smell of Luvs. I found that White Clouds were worthless for my babie’s body shapes.

Once baby is born, you will still have MONTHS before he’s in a size three…you can stockpile after you find a couple of brands that work for you.

For a newborn, estimate one diaper per feeding at a minimum.

Wow, that was a lot of info! Sorry to write a book. I’ve been steadily changing diapers for 11 years (at one point, I had FOUR children in diapers!)

Oh and I just wanted to add that I never needed to change either of my kids 10-12 times per day, like that guideline suggests. As newborns it was more like 8 times. My son is 6 months and gets changed about 6 times per day tops.

When they’re sleeping for a few hours at a time, especially when they sleep more at night, you’re changing fewer diapers. My son (6 months) has slept through the night since he was a month old and also takes several good naps per day, so obviously, I’m not changing him during all that time.

And also, it depends on how often they physically empty themselves. Some kids go alot and go often and some don’t.

Hi Kacie,
That might have come out wrong. What I meant is that due to the size of your place and how it restricts your ability to stockpile, I though you wouldn’t be stockpiling diapers too much. But it seems that you have worked thru it.

As many disposables as I have stockpiled I haven’t given up on cloth either. So I will be entering Angie’s giveaway later this week. Who know I may get lucky and I would def. give them a try if I can get them for free.

Don’t be surprised if your baby grows differently from your expectations. My daughter will be 3 years old next month and she only weighs 24 pounds! She’s stubborn about potty training so she is still in diapers size 3!

If your baby does grow faster than you expect and you have some diapers left in the smaller sizes, you could always donate them, or give them as baby shower gifts! =)

Wow! I’m totally impressed at how much time and effort you’ve put into calculating all this out! I didn’t stockpile at all really, but we still didn’t have to buy diapers ourselves for a long time because we got so many as gifts from baby showers. I wanted to throw that out to you as well. If you have even just one baby shower, you will likely get quite a few packs of diapers, especially if you plan to do a baby registry and put diapers on your registry (which I would recommend- it’s a great way to get premium dipes). Also, our hospital gave us two small packs of newborn diapers to take home. I think I had 4 jumbo packs at home, and my daughter outgrew the size before I could use the last pack and a half. I think I just gave them to a family member who was expecting.

I have to say that I would agree with the warnings of stockpiling too many of any one brand in case it doesn’t work for you. My nephew can’t wear any diaper but Huggies without breaking into a horrible rash. I have certain diapers that I won’t buy because they just don’t fit my daughter well. I do wish that I had been more prepared like you, though, before my first was born!!

LOL I have a daughter who also doesn’t fit any of your plans. She’s 3.5, weighs 30#, and wears 3s. She wears 4s at night only because she sleeps so long and pees so much that 3s won’t do. Actually, until recently, she’d wear a size larger at night PLUS a diaper doubler. She’s been doing that since she wore 2s.

I wanted to throw in the gender issue I’ve experienced. With my daughter, she always wore the diaper size that equaled her current weight. My son on the other hand….. He’s 9 months old and in size 4s for 6 months now. Litlle boys have a different anatomy which makes their pee end up closer to the top edge of the diaper and I’ve found him to be MUCH more prone to leaks in almost every brand of diapers I’ve used. Those dipaer doublers were a God-send for the first few months. I even went so far as to bring him to the doctor because I thought something was wrong with him, with all the diaper accidents we were having. My pediatrician (bless his heart) sais “Um Sara. Do I really have to explain the anatomical differences here? You are a nurse after all” :) Kacie, you’re not the only one who feels clue-less at times. And this was my second baby for pete’s sake!

i think you’re smart for wanting to stockpile. At those prices, it’s not a huge deal if one brand doesn’t end up working. Honestly, paying 5 cents/diaper, even for ones that don’t work, you’ll probably be able to sell them on craigslist, if not for a profit, you’ll at least be able to get your money back.

i have no idea how you find diapers that cheap though! Maybe because you actually buy stuff at CVS, so you’ve got cvs EC bucks, helps. i use coupons and still pay .15/diaper, though that’s partly because the bigger the diapers get, the less are in the box, and the box doesn’t get any cheaper.

i understand about trying to plan and stay sane and keep some semblance of control. It sounds like you’re being wise and diligent with the time you have preparing for your precious little one!

I think you are doing great with trying to get ready. You should do just fine as long as you use your instincts. As long as you have an extra pack of diapers your dh could pick up more before he comes home from work. Once the baby is here you will also be able to gage better how long you will need a certain size.

My youngest was just under 9 lbs. when he was born but is still in size 3 (he is now 15 1/2 months). He had some medical issues and has DS that has affected his weight.

Kacie, you are seriously rocking the diaper sales! Nicely done. With our first, my rule thumb was the price of Sam’s Club brand diapers–which, in 2005 was about 13 cents per diaper. For the record, she was in newborns for about 2 weeks, 1s for about 2 months, 2s for about 2 days (I think I missed the window and was cramming her into 1s too long!) and then 3s for oh…..about 18months!

One tip that worked for me–I upped the size at night (to increase absorbency) and that totally helped her to sleep through the night.

For store brands, I swear by Sam’s Club and CVS–those were the two I used the most.

This is a question I always wondered about too when I was having babies–and I never did quite figure it out beforehand.

I haven’t read through all the comments yet, but I just wanted to say that we used to be a Pampers family but have then switched to the Parents Choice brand from Walmart. They feel as soft to me as the Pampers did but are cheaper so I feel it was a good switch. The White Cloud brand at Walmart sucks IMO, they don’t seem to keep the wet away from their little bottoms and we always ended up having rashes when we used those.

And with both of my kids, they were in size 3’s for like FOREVER! I would probably get the most 3’s and 4’s. None of mine ever made it to 5’s before they were potty trained.

Plus I noticed that as they got a little bit older, we weren’t going through as many diaper changes each day. So your amounts could probably drop as they near 18 months on. Not sure if thats a universal thing or not, but thats what I noticed with my kids.

Awww don’t feel all naive and dumb. You most certainly aren’t! You are doing very well with getting prepared and you know what… we all learn all these things as we go. Even experienced moms with several kids are still learning since each and every kid is different.

And it’s great to blog about these things so that it helps you figure stuff out and get the help of fellow moms. Moms love to share what they know because it’s such an awesome feeling when we try and try and try and finally figure out what works well for us. It seems like a big accomplishment, makes our lives so much easier, and then we just wanna help everybody else, so they don’t have to go through all that.

LOL. I’m so glad you wrote this post. I just didn’t know how to email you and tell you that I had decided to go with disposables. :) I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me. Haha.

I figured out that after paying to do the laundry at our apartment, it was going to be
WAY more expensive for us to use cloth. Plus, my husband will be gone for the first few months and it’s more trouble than it’s worth to have to go down and wash them.

I’m glad we both came to our senses. Maybe cloth diapers with later babies…???

Well it looks like pretty much everyone has hit the nail on the head when it comes to diapers… When it comes to stockpiling however, please do not forget that you can get lots (and I do mean lots!!!) of diapers when you have a baby shower! Don’t try to get it all yourself!

Make sure you get stockpiled on things you know you need NOW, before you get baby… because as soon as baby comes along, some things will go to the wayside.

Plus, stockpiling on those little things will help deter the day when you and hubby will fight because someone forgot to get the shampoo brand that one of you use when they went to the store… (parents minds get frazzled 3-6 weeks after baby arrives, at least in the experience of observing my step-mother and father.) You’ll be surprised that a big blow up can occur over just a little thing (because it’s been building for awhile).

I think you’re like me. You like to be oober prepared for everything. It helps ease stress/anxiety/concerns about not being ready. I am so that way too!

I just thought I’d pass on a tip to you– my friend had a baby shower at work and a shower with family and a shower with friends. For her work shower and her friends shower, she asked for diapers and wipes only in the invitations. This way, she got all the diapers she needed for the first year, and she didn’t have to pay a dime!
Some of us still couldn’t resist throwing a cute onesie in there! :-)

Good luck with your preparations Kacie! I’m glad I’m not the only one out there who “over prepares!”

@DecMeadow–I’m a step ahead of you! I have a bin of shampoo, soap, razors…basically everything we regularly use. It’s not a complete stash yet, but it will be.

I know, I’ve completely gone off the deep end.

You’d think I was preparing for a 6-month long natural disaster! It’s “just” a baby! lol

Also, I’m actually not expecting a baby shower. I don’t think anyone in PA would throw me one (then again, most of the people at church don’t know I’m expecting) and nobody in my family has mentioned anything, and they’re all 400 miles away so some planning would need to go into it.

Aww! Mrs. R., I totally didn’t mean to give the impression that I’m anti-disposables. I just wanted to use cloth (still do, someday) and maybe some preggo hormones blocked the logic part of my brain at the time. Heh.

From my own recent experience, I tried to switch to the cheaper store brand diaper and it was totally not worth. I had gone for 2.5 yrs without a leaky messy diaper and tried to switch to a cheaper store brand diaper….target…toys R US versus Pampers…Or Huggies and the mess made it unbelievably not worth the “savings” for the actual diaper. You come out spending less money because you change the diaper less, the childs clothing less, your time, My car seat wet with urine, the furniture, everything…and yes, my child should be out of diapers and we are trying but these things go at their own pace.

The name brand is so totally worth it. If you must buy ahead of time, shop a store where you can at least exchange. I have never had a problem with Huggies or Pampers.

I have not had time to read other posters, and I am not trying to sound negative but there are a few things to consider when buying ahead….we have lost two children. You have to thing about store return policies or resell.

My child has never had a diaper rash. I change his diaper quite often, but with a good diaper, it absorbs better so you have to change the diaper less, thus using less diapers, so it is hard to say how many in one day. Some children can go a long period of time, some can’t. I can not remember what the “book” says but there is a rule of thumb somewhere on just changing in so many hrs and you have to think about how much your child drinks, which is more when they are younger or at least their urine output seems more when they are younger. I suppose because they are infants, bottle feeding. I know this is a choppy post, but I am rushed for time.

I would agree with the above comments that your stockpile is probably adequate. I don’t think I’d add too much more. Storage will be an issue once you get all the rest of the baby gear!

My oldest was a HUGE baby… wore newborns for four days! My twins were also big, and were in newborns for only a week. It’s so hard to predict the sizes.. and every diaper fits every kid differently. My oldest could only wear Huggies, but the twins can wear just about anything.

I totally understand wanting to be prepared…. But believe me, once you get past the first month or two, you will WANT to get outside and go to the store no matter how cold it is!!

After the first 6 months (once baby starts solids) the diaper changes do decline in number…I know that you’re getting loads of comments here, so I won’t repeat what’s already been said, except to add that with our daughter we never had any troubles with store brands. We used cloth for the first two years, but when we switched to paper, store brands have performed just as well as name brands.

I guess all this is doing is reiterating that everyone’s experience is different. I think diaper stockpiling is a smart thing, and would agree that you might as well start stockpiling other things you’ll need.

Remember too that thrift stores have so many baby things. We got our potty chair, stroller, and high chair (a space-saving, strap-to-a-regular-chair number) there. Safety is of course an issue, but if you are logical (is it less than 20 years old? Does it have anything that looks “pinchy”?) it is not hard. Thrift stores are also really fabulous for kids books. I don’t know why people spend full price on kids books when there are so many available for a fraction of the price.

If I were you, I wouldn’t buy any toys yet, unless you have one special thing in mind. The toys somehow multply when you’re not looking, even if you live far from home, and suddenly you have a house full of toys you don’t know where they came from.

That’s my two cents…you are doing good things preparing, Kacie. You really are.

I just wanted to echo what others said about size 1 and 2 diapers. My boys were both in Size 2 diapers by the time they were a month old. My daughter waited until about 2 months until she was in size 2.

We too stockpiled before our kids were born and the best advice anyone gave me is to skip the Size N, get some size 1s, a bit more size 2s and stockpile the 3s. All 3 of my children were in Size 3 for what seemed like 8 months!

Dude. You are a diaper-stocking machine! I love that you have focused your energies on the annoyingly expensive hunks of gunk that are nothing more than poop containers. Like others have said, though, you just can’t predict that sort of thing, so you may want to keep the stockpile right where it is. Really, you should focus your energy on getting some sleep because THAT is one thing that is always in short supply late in pregnancy and after the baby is born, and you just can’t run to the grocery store and get it!

BTW, we are thousands of miles from our families and still ended up with multiple baby showers. I would be SHOCKED if you didn’t get at least one. You have a while before shower time, but I bet somebody throws one around late October or November.

Our little guy was about 8 pounds when he popped out. We didn’t use Newborn diapers very long. Wish I could give you better time frames on the other sizes. He’s 18 months now and using size 4. He was on size 3 for a while.

Different brands will fit differently and absorb differently. We found Luvs and the BJ’s brand to be not too absorbent while Pampers and Huggies to be better for us.

You could put a lot of diapers on your baby registry that way you wouldn’t have to buy them all? Or maybe ask for Babies R Us or Amazon gift certificates to buy diapers later on?

Ask your mother how fast you grew. The averages did not hold true for my baby. She grew so fast! She was 30lbs by 8 mos then she started walking is now only 27lbs at 18 mos. They stall out. She was up to a 5, but we brought her back down to a 4.

One thing to note though. Swaddlers are amazing. They are so soft and nice; however, they only go to size 2.

Luvs are cut wider, so you can keep your kid in a lower size longer which REALLY saves money.

I have not had a chance to read all of the other comments, but I figured that I would give you my two cents of experience about diapers – I know that you’ve received a lot already…but I thought a little more couldn’t hurt!

My sons are 6 months and 2 and 1/2 years old. They were both 7 lbs 15 oz when they were born and I only used newborn diapers for about 1 week. So, my suggestion is use the newborn diapers that they give you in the hospital and only buy one pack…unless you have a very small baby. This is why it is hard to judge how much to buy – it depends on the size of your baby and also how much they pee and poop.

I LOVE Pampers Swaddlers! They are more expensive, but they are SO worth it in size one and two! A breast fed baby’s poop is VERY liquidy and the Swaddler diapers absorb it so well and it is not left against the skin of the baby.

As far as the other sizes…I wish that I kept track of it better for you! :) My youngest is now 17 lbs 5 oz and I just moved him to a size 4 diaper. I just felt that it was time – he was peeing a lot! I do not remember when I moved my other son up to a size 4. However, a little tip for you. If you find that they are doing fine in just say a size 3 during the day but are leaking at night – just move them up a size at night. My older one is in a size 5 during the day and a size 6 at night. It works just great.

Something else that will factor in to the number of diaper changes is the number of times that they poop during the day (and/or night). Most breastfed babies poop at every feeding (and maybe other times too!). My oldest was like this and we definitely went through at least 10-12 diapers a day. My younger one is breastfed, but poops maybe once a day – which was very strange to me, but that is just the way that his body works! So, I have realized that I have not had to change as many diapers! (still about 10 in the beginning of his life, but it tapered off a little bit)

I personally only like Pampers. I do not want to have to deal with leaks so I just try to find the best deal on them. I tried samples of Huggies and found that they don’t “hug” they leak. I guess you will have to see how your baby does with them. I have not tried any store brands. I also tried Luvs, but did not like them too much either.

You are really thinking and planning so much for all of this! Have you also read anything about scheduling? (The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer is a great book – well, I liked it). My sons slept extended night ( about 10-12 hours) from about 15 weeks of life and are still doing it! :)

I had ‘earned’ $250 worth of diapers from Amazon.com through a promo they had July-Sept 2008. It took me a lot of time and researach, but here is what I decided to get…

Size 1- 176 diapers (about 29 days if changed 6x/day)

Size 2- 320 diapers (about 53 days if changed 6x/day)

Size 3- 280 diapers (about 46 days if changed 6x/day)

Size 4- 120 diapers (about 20 days if changed 6x/day)

Size 5- 104 diapers (about 17 days if changed 6x/day)

I realize this is just an average idea of things, and baby will probably be changed more in the beginning and less at the end.

Hopefully I will be able to use all of them! I think I probably will. Either way, how could I refuse free diapers?!?!?! They will last a loooong time (no expiration date) so if I don’t use them on my first, I can use on my second (if we have 2 kids). Even if we never have another child, I am pretty sure my friend will have mutliple kids so the diapers will end up getting used. :) Agh! This is way too exciting to think about. *sigh*